Pittsburgh may be landlocked, but it is becoming a center for the rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles. All the seven species that still live in the the oceans, all are endangered because of development, pollution, and boating.

Advertisement

Related Content

In 2009, the PPG Aquarium began helping in the rescue of stranded sea turtle hatchlings with its Second Chance program. After the BP oil spill, the Aquarium won a grant to expand that program, and buy huge rehabilitation tanks.

Today, the aquarists at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium have the ability to rehabilitate stranded hatchlings and return them to the ocean, rescue "cold-stunned" turtles that have been kicked out of the warmer Gulf Stream waters and become trapped on beaches.

They also have a new resident program for turtles like Sunburst, a green sea turtle hit by a boat. Sunburst's shell was dented and her right front flipper was irreparably damaged. She can not be returned to the wild, so she will live at the Aquarium for the rest of her life.

Aquarist Josie Romasco says that could be the next 70 years.

"My kids could be grandparents themselve and still enjoy Sunburst at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium," she said.

Hampton, on the other hand, will be returned to the wild. He is a young 60-pound loggerhead turtle who was found on a beach on Long Island. He was "cold-stunned." It is a term used when the turtles become so cold after weather patterns kick them out of warmer waters and they go into shock. Hampton, named for the place where he was found, is recovering nicely and will be taken back to Long Island in the summer.

Two six-month-old hatchlings, Rooney and Harold, will also be released back into the ocean off North Carolina this summer. This day, they were entertaining a big crowd of zoo visitors who were watching them get their weekly baths. Aquarist Josie Romasco calls it "Turtle Spa Day."

Romasco carefully uses a toothbrush to take off algae growing on their shells. For her, giving these young hatchlings a second chance at life is vitally important.

"The sea turtles have been around since the age of dinosaurs and we want to keep them here. They are very charismatic and they have a very important place in the food chain out in the oceans," she said.